


speaking.

by MrsAmber



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, M/M, and i haven't read it again :), anyways this was on my tumblr and i decided to post it here, deaf laurent, except he's not really deaf, he just doesn't really like talking, inspired by a writing prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29872128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsAmber/pseuds/MrsAmber
Summary: "For most of college everyone thought you were deaf when in reality you just don't like talking and learned sign language at a young age. You never corrected anyone until someone confessed their love for you, thinking you couldn't hear them."So, I found thispromptby@writing-prompt-sand couldn’t help myself. This was not exactly what this prompt was about, but here we go... A short fic in which Laurent doesn’t like talking and still get’s Damen’s attention.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 89





	speaking.

**Author's Note:**

> so, i wrote this instead of working one day lmao  
> I'm not sure what i wanted with this, but i hope you like it!!
> 
> (also, I kinda ignored the part of the prompt where it says "for most of college" but don't mind me)

“But Auguste, I almost don’t see you around anymore.” He could feel he was pouting as he trailed after his brother, who took a moment looking at his outfit in the mirror before answering.

“I know, Lau… I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you’d be comfortable going out, so I never bothered.” He came closer to his younger brother, sitting beside him on the bed and shuffling his hair.

“Yes, I know…” He began and stopped, thinking of the best way he could say what he wanted. “I just didn’t expect that you’d go to college and forget we ever hang out together.” And that’s not how he wanted to sound at all.

“Oh, come on, Laurent. Would you like to go out with us, then?” His eyes were bright at the prospect. Laurent wasn’t super excited.

“God, why do I love you anyway?” He exhaled and dropped himself on the bed in a dramatic gesture. “I feel like I won’t have a better chance than this…” He stared at his brother, who had a smirk on his face.

“What if I tell you we can keep pretending you’re deaf?” And the wicked smile Laurent gave him was answer enough.

_ He couldn’t exactly tell when it began, but he never bothered to correct anyone, so it didn’t matter anymore. He had always been a quiet kid, prefering to read books and stay away from other kids whenever he could. It didn’t change much as he grew up. His mother was deaf and that’s why he learned at such a young age to communicate through the language of signals. At some point in his life, someone must have seen him communicating with her and his family, since they always talked through signals when she was around, and must have supposed that it was him the deaf one.  _

_ It became an inside joke when he went out with his closest friends or his brother, they never expected him to interact outside their group and inside it he was almost as quiet. When they wanted him to pay attention or answer anything, they would communicate through signals.  _

_ Laurent and his brother had almost the same age, barely a year of difference, they were in different years at school and took different classes, but they had the same friends and hung out with the same people. When his brother graduated, the only one who knew he wasn’t deaf was Ancel, a red haired boy that he was friends with since he was 9 years old and moved to this school.  _

When they heard a honk outside, Auguste pushed Laurent out of the door of his room and downstairs to the exit. There was a friend of his who had come to pick them up, Damianos or something. Auguste introduced them, telling Damen who was him and then turning and telling Laurent the same, but through signals. 

Damianos’ eyes were already glued to him from where he was seated in the driver's seat and they went large when he realised what Auguste was doing and what it meant. He didn’t know how to react, considering he had no clue on how to speak through signals, his only reaction being a bright smile and an apologetic expression as he turned to yell at Auguste.

“How could you not have told anyone your brother couldn’t hear? How am I supposed to communicate now that I can’t even say ‘hi’?” There was another man seated in the front seat, and he was muffling a laugh as the brother’s got in the backseat of the car. Nikandros, he would later on learn his name. He looked a lot like Damianos, only a bit smaller. If only you could call it small.

“Oh, he can read lips, you know?” This made Damen blush, and wasn’t that dimple in his left cheek adorable? “But if you want we can teach you some words.” He said the last part lifting one eyebrow to his brother, making Laurent himself feel his face warming up when he turned to offer Damen a shy smile.

The following weeks Laurent was glad to say he saw more and more of his brother, even if it was almost always with his other friends. And not that he was complaining about that, since they always treated him very well. Some of them were actually making an effort to learn how to communicate with him through signals. Especially Damen who still didn’t seem to be over the fact he couldn’t properly talk to him and trailed after him whenever they went to help and always looked really disturbed when he couldn’t understand and had to call for Auguste to translate what Laurent said. Laurent found it really adoring and almost felt guilty for not telling him he could actually hear what he said and spare him the effort of trying. Almost, because he was really interested to know the lengths Damen would go just to understand him and make him feel comfortable. There must be a point where it would all come down and he would understand why he did it, someone couldn’t be interested in him that much just for the sake of it.

They would come to their place and watch movies, with subtitles of course, drink and play games, or they would go out to the beach, mall, movies, clubs or anything else they had in mind. Laurent was beginning to feel like he once more belonged somewhere, and it made him dizzy.

There was this one time they had gone out really late, it was a tuesday and all bars and clubs were closed. Nikandros and Auguste were really desperate for alcohol and said they couldn’t waste such a beautiful starry night without getting drunk and going somewhere they could really appreciate it. Laurent knew it was only because it was their last week at College that semester and they just wanted to celebrate. He offered to drive them, but Damen was already with keys in hand and said he would enjoy it more if he could properly see the stars once they arrived, and Laurent couldn’t contradict him.

Damen took them to a small beach he knew almost outside town, where the stars could be seen with little interference and where they could lay down in a pier that went deep into the calm waters. Nikandros and Auguste were already drunk from the cheap wine they had bought in the way and they were loud. Laurent could understand why Auguste would like to drink with Nik, since they had complementing personalities while sober but you couldn’t really tell who’s mind was thinking when they were drunk. They had horrible ideas and the other would just get along with it in a heartbeat and not even question their choices. And that’s why now they could see both of them running through the beach, already without shoes, racing toward the rocks at the end of it.

“God, I just hope they don’t get each other killed.” Laurent thought and had to remind himself that he wasn’t supposed to talk in Damen’s presence. It was a task that was getting harder everyday, the more comfortable he got and the more he wanted them to have a proper interaction with each other. He just couldn’t bring himself to cross that point, thinking Damen would lose his interest in him as soon as he realised Laurent wasn’t that big of a deal and didn’t have the ‘deaf situation’ to help.

They walked together to the end of the pier, where Laurent took off his shoes and sat at the edge to put his feet in the water, propping himself in his hand behind his back. Damen sat by his side, feet in the water. He took a long breath and then laid on his back to stare at the sky. The breeze was fresh and wet and played with Laurents hair, as he pulled some lost strands from his eyes. There were some sea birds fishing and sometimes you could hear a fish jumping and then falling again in the water. 

Damen moved his legs a bit and now he could feel his warmth spread through the layers of cloth and send shivers through his skin.

“You know, this would be a lot easier if you could at least hear me…” Damen started talking and Laurent felt himself freeze at the spot, before scolding himself to a relaxed position again. He wasn’t supposed to be hearing this, so he pretended he wasn’t.

“But I also think I wouldn’t be able to do this if you could…” He continued and his voice was barely beyond a whisper. “Since the first time I saw you, I knew it wouldn’t be easy and I would be doomed if I didn’t try. And here we are now, and I feel so stupid for not being able to tell you this in a proper way. I don’t even know how you feel about most things but I wouldn’t fool myself into thinking that you’d be comfortable if I asked anyone to translate any of this.” He exhaled and moved a bit. Laurent wouldn't turn around to know what it was, too shocked to do anything but stare at the sky ahead. 

“I know it’s too soon, but I think I’m in love with you. I think I have been since I laid eyes on you that first day, but I only realized how fucked I was the first time I heard you laugh…” He laughed and Laurent felt his heart flipping in his chest. He couldn’t help when he turned to look at him, his expression so tender and his eyes so soft and Laurent finally realized what all those looks he saw in the past weeks meant.

“What did you just say?” He gasped and brought a hand to cover his mouth. Damianos eyes went wide and he could swear he saw him pale.

**Author's Note:**

> please, tell me what you think of it ;)


End file.
